


Unexpected Hanging Paradox

by ldyvanillacourt



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Death penalty, Hanging, How Do I Tag, Prison, Short One Shot, Unexpected Hanging Paradox, because that’s where he went, death tw, if you know the paradox then you know how it ends, it’s mostly just Daniel thinking outside the box, paradoxes, sorry - Freeform, takes place after Cult Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:10:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14011899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ldyvanillacourt/pseuds/ldyvanillacourt
Summary: The hanging cannot occur on Friday, because it would no longer be a surprise. But by that logic, he could not be hanged on Thursday, either. Daniel sat on his bed in deep thought. Could he be hanged at ALL?





	Unexpected Hanging Paradox

It was a bright and early Sunday morning in Sleepy Peak, and it was on such a morning that Daniel learned his death sentence.

The cultist tapped his foot and blew a strand of ruffled blond hair away from his face as he sat in the courtroom. This fate could easily have been avoided: he shouldn’t have been so into he and David’s little “routine” and gave away his plan. He grimaced at the thought of how stupid he was. He would have had the whole camp under his control if it weren’t for that.

Daniel was barely listening to what the judge had to say. There was no point in keeping quiet: he had already incriminated himself. He just sat there, mindlessly waiting for when he was going to die, or how long his prison sentence was going to be, blah, blah, blah. It was going to happen sooner or later. Daniel only hoped it would have been later.

Finally, the judge got to the good part. “As for your death sentence,” the judge said, “at noon on one weekday in the following week, the next five days, you will be hanged.”

~~(Hanged? Really? Hmm. I was expecting a different kind of punishment.)~~

“However,” the judge continued, “it will be a complete and total surprise. You will not know the day of the hanging until the executioner knocks on your cell door at noon on that day.”

Daniel smirked. Now, he knew the judge to be quite a logical man, and the judge knew Daniel to be that, too. Daniel figured he could easily find out which day he was to be hanged based on the information he was given.

That night, the cultist sat on his bed in deep thought. If the judge was true to his word, then the next five days would bring him up to Friday, and Friday was the latest Daniel could be hanged. Not Saturday, unless the man was a liar. Friday.

Daniel twirled his thumbs. “Well... if it’s a surprise hanging...” Friday had instantly been eliminated. Daniel chuckled. He knew that if the hanging has not happened by Thursday, then there would only be one day left: Friday. But since there is only one day left, then the hanging occurring on Friday cannot possibly be a surprise, and the hanging was described as being a surprise. Therefore, the hanging cannot occur on Friday.

Daniel swung his legs up on the bed and laid down. “If it’s such a surprise-” Thursday had been eliminated, as well. If the hanging cannot occur on Friday, then Thursday would become the last possible day the hanging could take place. Using the logic he had before, then if he has not been hanged by Wednesday, the hanging cannot occur on Thursday, either, because it would no longer be a “surprise hanging”.

How simple this was!

By the time Daniel was ready to go to sleep, he had reasoned that by following his logic, the hanging cannot occur on Wednesday, Tuesday, or Monday. The cultist had come to the conclusion that the hanging can not happen at all.

Joyfully, Daniel fell asleep, confident that he was going to escape his death sentence.

On Wednesday of the following week, the executioner knocked on Daniel’s door at noon sharp- an utter surprise to him. Despite all of his logic, Daniel found himself at the end of a rope. Everything the judge said came true.

**Author's Note:**

> “The unexpected hanging paradox or hangman paradox is a paradox about a person's expectations about the timing of a future event which they are told will occur at an unexpected time. The paradox is variously applied to a prisoner's hanging, or a surprise school test.” - Wikipedia 
> 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_hanging_paradox
> 
> twitter and insta: ldyvanillacourt  
> tumblr: cherryvanillaz  
> if u wanna follow my insta where i posted one picture of uraraka ochako: ochakhoe420


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